Blakemans View: 21 Months
By Mathew Blakeman
August 30 2002
Mathew Blakemans most recent article labled 21 months. Talking about the derby tomorrow and wishing Artero good luck. Another excellent article from the Mathew Blakeman series of articles for this website.
21 MONTHS
This Saturday brings us on in our
quest to end a 21-month run without beating the ones we love to hate from across
the street. Claudio’s opener and Georgi’s sublime chip was way back in
November 2000 at Tannadice and was the last time that we could enjoy Monday
mornings to the full and since then we’ve had to endure 2 draws and 3 defeats
in a seemingly endless run. Jim Duffy’s last memory of the Dundee derby would
be from 1996 in a penalty shoot-out victory in the Coca-cola cup, the only time
in recent memory that either side has gone through the whole season with a 100%
record in the Derby, albeit it was just one game.
It must be said that we go into
this game as favourites, much as we did last season, because of our first win of
the season against Hibs whilst 4 dreadful United performances has seen them take
only 2 points from the opening games. However, if anything can be learned from
last seasons Derby results, it is that nothing can be read into Uniteds showings
leading up to the Derbies – they always raise their game against Dundee. Our
flair counted for not a lot last year as the spirit and determination of the
Arabs shone through to show that there was only one team on the pitch that
really understood about the Scottish Derby. However, just last Saturday, us Dees
experienced a strange feeling. We didn’t play well but we still won and in my
opinion, deservedly so. It wasn’t pretty, more gutsy as we overcame a negative
Hibernian outfit in the last 12 minutes to scrape a win. This season’s team
seems to have more fighters, even in foreigners such as Jonay Hernandez and a
changed Fabian Caballero. Young Neil Jablonski came to sounds of “Who?” as
he replaced Gavin Beith early on but left to applauds for a courageous
performance. Steve Lovell could’ve made a worse start to his Dens career than
score a scrappy last minute winner as he strode off in delight, punching the air
in triumph and it seems that he could be drafted straight into the first team
for Saturday to replace the off-form Juan Sara. Entertainment wise, Nacho Novo
will return from suspension for his first Dundee Derby while, despite wasting
numerous set pieces against Hibs, Georgi Nemsadze looks as if he is staying in
Dundee after all following Celtics hilarious failure to reach the Champions
League, which means no £10m which, hopefully, means no Nemsadze.
So its prediction time. For anyone
interested, I, seriously by the way, had a dream last night that United won 2-1
with a last minute goal. If there’s any consolation that can be taken from
this is that never in my lifetime have I had a dream that has made any sense.
Following the win over Hibs, I realised that we can now win games through
determination – something that could well be needed this weekend. However, I
reckon that a little bit of class could be the difference. Novo to star in a 2-0
win for the Dees. Lovell to, possibly, grab the other.